Prologue

A storm was brewing. Ominous black clouds rolled in. Snow whirled through the air in violent gusts of wind. Warm currents of air clashed with the freezing north winds, creating a swirling monster that raced across the surface of the ocean, headed straight for Berk. The tiny island was doomed, and no one knew what was coming.

A storm was brewing......

Ch. 1

A snowball streaked through the crisp winter air. It collided with Hiccup's face, and he fell over in the snow. He sat up and shook the snow off his face. Astrid laughed and threw another snowball. Hiccup ducked, hopping up and running off, stumbling through the waist-deep snow at points. Astrid chased him, pelting him with snowballs along the way.

About a month ago, Astrid had been kidnapped by Changewings and had broken her leg. An infection had ensued, but Astrid was better now. Hiccup had tried to lighten up and let Astrid do what she wanted, but he was becoming more protective of  her as their relationship progressed, and this snowball fight was a break Hiccup desperately needed.

Hiccup collapsed in the snow. "Okay!," he gasped. "Okay! You win! I surrender--HEY! You can stop pelting me with snowballs now!" Astrid ignored him and splatted another one in his face. Then she came up and kicked snow on top of him. She feigned a pouty-face and crossed her arms stiffly.

"This is for not letting me do anything!," she huffed. Hiccup flung the snow off his face and raised an eyebrow. Astrid tried to keep a straight face, but a grin worked its way into her expression and she burst out laughing. Hiccup grinned and grabbed Astrid's hand, pulling her down into the snow next to him. She yelped as the snow came in contact with her skin and Hiccup laughed. He reached over and grabbed Astrid's shoulders, pinning her to the ground and forcing her to stay in the freezing snow. She wriggled and glared at Hiccup. "Let go!" Hiccup simply grinned down at her and pushed her farther into the snow. "Seriously!," Astrid said, a hint of a giggle in her voice. "I said let go!"

Hiccup shrugged and smirked at her. "No," he said. "I don't really feel like it right now."

"But it's COLD," Astrid whined.

"No duh," Hiccup laughed. "It's SNOW. Did you think it was gonna be warm? 'Cuz, it's frozen water, genius. It's supposed to be cold. That's the whole point of SNOW, and WINTER, and--"

Astrid threw snow up at Hiccup. "Okay," she sighed. "I get it. Now let me out."

Hiccup grinned slyly. "Hmm, I don't know.....I think I'll think about it a while longer...............maybe if you say the magic words...."

"LET ME OUT! OR I WILL GET MY AXE AND PERSONALLY CHOP YOU INTO A MILLION LITTLE PIECES AND FEED YOU TO THE SHARKS!!!," Astrid shouted playfully.

"You can't," Hiccup said bluntly. "I'm still holding you down, remember?" Astrid rolled her eyes and giggled.

"Please?," she said, grinning and batting her eyelashes at Hiccup seductively. "If I give you a kiss on the cheek will you let me go?"

Hiccup sighed and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "I guess so..." Astrid sat up and jumped to her feet, tossing an armload of snow down Hiccup's tunic.

"PSYCHE!!," she yelled, running off. Hiccup shivered and stood up, trying to shake out the snow.

"That's not good sportsmanship!," he shouted after Astrid. She simply looked over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at Hiccup. He smirked and ran after her.

Astrid hid behind a young fir tree and peeked around the corner. She frowned, confused. Hiccup WAS chasing her, but where was he now? She took a step out from behind the tree and looked around. Suddenly, he barreled into her and knocked her into the snow again. "Hey!," she yelped. "That's not fair! I just got out of the snow!" Hiccup shrugged and adjused his grip on Astrid's arms.

"You didn't play fair," he pointed out. "You cheated and took advantage of how gullible I am around you. So, I called for a rematch...in my head, so you didn't know."

Astrid frowned. "You can't do that!"

Hiccup grinned. "Oh," he said. "I'm pretty sure I can. I'm the chief's son, I think I'm allowed to come up with the rules." Astrid laughed. She kneed Hiccup's stomach and rolled over so that it was Hiccup that was on his back in the snow and Astrid that was on top of him. She bent down close to Hiccup so that their noses were touching.

"Snowball fights aren't supposed to have rules," she grinned. "That's why they're fights, not a game of 'tag' or the Thawfest competitions. They are an all-out war, only there's no violence, blood or guts involved."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and poked Astrid's arm. "Fine then," he said. "But I'm still gonna use my own rules...the ones where YOU'RE not allowed to pin me  down, but I can pin you down...in the snow...with it melting and making your skin feel like a block of ice......" Astrid pressed her finger to Hiccup's lips so he would shut up.

"You do that," she said, flipping her bangs out of her face. "But I'm gonna fight with one simple statement: Every man for himself. And you'd better have your snowballs ready and a fort built, 'cuz you're gonna need it when I come through with an army of snowmen."

Hiccup laughed as Astrid removed her finger. "Snowmen?! Really? Oh, I'm so scared! The future chief of the Hooligan tribe murdered by warriors of snow and his extremely violent girlfriend. Oooooh, scary."

Astrid gave an indignant gasp and punched Hiccup in the shoulder. "Excuse me!," she snapped. "I am NOT violent! It's not violence, it's just communication! How many times do I have to say it to get it through that thick skull of yours?!"

Hiccup grinned. "Well, Astrid," he said. "You know that it'll never get through my head, and even if it does, it'll take a long time. For now, though, it's fine. If you weren't violent, I wouldn't find you nearly as attractive." Astrid smiled and let go of Hiccup, helping him to his feet. They walked home in silence, admiring the cold, blue, cloudless sky. Hiccup remembered talking to Astrid after she had recovered from the Changewing incident. He had said, "Now Astrid, you're not gonna scare me half to death again, are you? You're not gonna have something threaten your life, now, are you?" He had said this jokingly, but he truly meant it inside.

Astrid had laughed. "I'll try, but I can't control what happens to me, can I? I won't be able to do anything if a giant storm kicks up and a waterspout wipes out our village and something terrible happens to me, will I?"

She shouldn't have said that.

Ch. 2

Gothi looked up at the sky and frowned. She licked her finger and held it out, testing the wind. There was only a slight breeze, but there was something about it that worried her. She hobbled over to a crate a pulled out a cup and six chicken bones of various sizes. She then put the bones in the cup and shook them around before tossing them onto the deck of her outrageously placed house, which stood on a pinnacle of rock about 150 feet above the ocean. The bones said that there was going to be a calm winter this year, but Gothi was skeptical. She poured some sand into a bowl and mixed it with mead. Then she added a small amount of bog water and honey. She set it out for an hour in the sun.

Gothi came back to the bowl an hour later. The mixture had hardened into a shape that looked a little like calm water and cloud-scarce skies. Gothi frowned and humphed. As Berk's soothsayer and elder, she had to tell everyone the weather and what she thought was wrong if there was something going on and who was coming to attack them and other things like that. However, it was pretty hard to get the message across, for Gothi was mute, and never spoke. Instead, she communicated by writing and drawing in the dirt. If there was none, she always carried a pouch of sand with her for that very purpose. A few villagers were able to decipher Gothi's sketches and unintelligable scribbles, like Gobber, Fishlegs, and even Tuffnut. Sometimes, even they got it wrong. When Gothi was telling the Berkians what to do when their dragons got sick, Gobber translated what she was trying to say. "She says......they're allergic to something on the island," he said as Gothi scribbled in the sand.

"To what?," Hiccup had asked.

Gobber tilted his head and peered at the glyphs and chicken-scratch. "To.....a moose wearing boots. Shouldn't be hard to find." Gothi whacked him with her staff. "Oh! They're allergic to something new on the island! I knew the moose wasn't right....it still looks like a moose, though." Gothi whacked him again. Another time, when the villagers had come down wth an Eel Pox epidemic, Fishlegs was reading what Gothi had to say about the last ingredient for the cure.

"We need.....eels. For the cure to Eel Pox."

"Where do we find them?," Tuffnut said, looking at Gothi's message. When he looked where she was pointing, across the ocean, he groaned. "All the way out there?!," he had complained. "In the ocean? That'll take us at least a week, and by then everyone will be sick!" Gothi pinned Tuffnut to the ground with her staff and shook her head.

"No, she means that we need Bloodbaine eels, and that we need to go to Eel Island," Fishlegs had said. Tuffnut peered at the message.

After reading it, he said, "Oh."

All that to say, Gothi had sensed something coming, but none of her usual methods were working. She cupped a hand behind her ear, but Bucket wasn't screaming from his tightening bucket yet. Usually, if all else failed, Gothi could rely on Bucket's bucket-helmet to predict a storm, but even this wasn't working, and Gothi knew something big was on its way. She frowned and went inside. She poured herself a bowl of soup and stirred it around absent-mindedly, but then noticed something. The bits of food on the surface of the soup had arranged into what looked like stormclouds and millions of tiny snowflakes, and the bubbles looked like a vortex or a waterspout. Gothi's eyes widened. The soup spoke the truth, and a huge storm was coming.

Now to get the villagers to believe her.

                                                                                  *

Tuffnut stuck his head out from a snowdrift and looked around for his sister. She nodded at him from behind another snowdrift and gave him a thumbs-up. Snotlout was posted behind a tree, and he fingered a snowball mischievously. Fishlegs fumbled with the snow from behind a rock; he failed at making snowballs, but Hiccup and Astrid had chosen him for their team anyway. Hiccup had his back against a snowdrift and he cautiously looked behind him, around the side of the drift. He tossed a snowball up and down in his left hand slowly. Astrid sat in the limbs of a tree, balancing like a cat on the thin branches. She had a small, hand-held slingshot and a sack full of snowballs. Everything was quiet, and no one moved. Then, someone threw a snowball and it whizzed through the air above Hiccup's head. That's when the war began. Snotlout, in true-to-form Viking fashion, charged out from behind the tree yelling some ridiculous war cry at the top of his lungs. Astrid smirked and pulled back the pouch on the slingshot, which was loaded with a rock-hard snowball. It shot through the air and hit Snotlout in the head, knocking him face-first into the snow. He laid there for some time, as the snowball must've knocked him out. Hiccup nodded at Astrid and mouthed, "Good job." She grinned and reloaded. Tuffnut hopped over the snowdrift and cut around through the forest, Ruffnut doing much the same. Hiccup saw them and looked at Astrid, who nodded and jumped down silently from the tree. She shot a snowball at Ruffnut, but it collided with a poorly-molded snowball from Fishlegs. Fishlegs's snowball vaporized and Astrid's kept going, finally hitting Ruffnut in the gut. She yelped and fell over in the snow, clutching her stomach. Hiccup cocked his arm and threw his snowball as hard as he could. It hit Tuffnut in the face, and he fell over backwards in the snow. Hiccup stood up and brushed off the snow that was on his clothes. Astrid came up next to him. "Well," Hiccup said. "I think we won."

Astrid nodded and smirked. "Definitely."

This was a very boring end to the chapter, but when I wrote it I had a serious case of Writer's block. :/ So....

Ch. 3

CRACK!!! The villagers jumped as Gothi slammed her staff into the floor impatiently. Stoick turned to her. "What is it? You keep trying to tell us, but we don't understand." Gothi glared at Stoick and the rest of the villagers, then pointed furiously at the scribbles in the sand. Then she pointed at the sky, where, if you looked close enough, you could see a wall of dark, almost black clouds. Stoick shook his head. "Gothi," he said. "You're getting too old for this. There's no storm coming; you just think there is." Gothi glowered at Stoick and the rest of the tribe and hobbled out the door of the Great Hall. She limped down the steps at a surprising speed for a crickety, nearly hundred-year-old woman. She marched up the millions of steps leading to her house and slammed the door behind her. Once she got in there, Gothi sighed and grabbed a telescope, looking out the window. The clouds seemed even more violent, and a swirling, grayish-blue vortex could be seen in the center of the storm. Gothi gasped and let go of the telescope, her frail, boney hands shaking. She pulled out a piece of parchment from a notebook and grabbed a quill. She dunked it in a jar of squid-ink and started writing an omen.

                      The waves roll and sway violently. The clouds are black dragons of death and destruction, breathing their hot, electric breath into the air. Snowflakes shoot from their claws and freeze anything they touch. In the center of the storm, a swirling monster shreds its way through the ocean, stopping at nothing and ingesting everything. It's the color of the Great Sea Dragon, fought and killed by the chief's son, only this monster cannot be defeated. Its whirlwind rage does not cease, and it races on, relentless. The waves churn and flail around it as it charges through the north sea, headed straight for us. The people are unaware, and already it is too late.

                         We are doomed.

Gothi grabbed the omen and ran outside. She ran back down to the Great Hall and tacked the omen to the door. Then she stood back as a suspicious breeze blew in, whispering a promise of certain oblivion.

                                                                               *

Hiccup stared at the paper nailed to the door, confused. Astrid joined him. "What's that supposed to mean?," she said after reading it. Hiccup shrugged. He tilted his head and read the paragraph again. "Who put it there?," Astrid asked.

Hiccup shrugged again. "Must've been Gothi," he said. "She's getting crazier and harder to believe the older she gets."

Astrid tilted her head thoughtfully. "True." Fishlegs came up behind Hiccup and Astrid and read the omen, an mideival equivalent of today's news stations and morning newspapers. He gave a small whimper once he read the parchment.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "You seriously believe that?"

Fishlegs nodded. "She is the elder and soothsayer," he pointed out. "We're supposed to believe her."

Astrid sighed. "Fishlegs," she said. "Nothing Gothi says anymore makes sense. How are we supposed to believe her when we don't even know what she's trying to say?" Fishlegs looked at the ground, unable to make a good comeback. Astrid smirked, but something about the omen, the breeze that gently ruffled his hair, and the more he read the omen planted a seed of doubt in Hiccup's mind. Maybe something WAS coming....

Astrid was watching him with a concerned expression. "Hiccup, you okay?," she said.

Hiccup sighed. "Maybe Gothi's right," he said. "The more I read this, the more it seems possible. And, this breeze doesn't feel quite right either, too violent and tense for winter yet." Astrid shrugged, but whatever Hiccup said might happen would always change her mind. Hiccup looked out to the ocean and thought he saw something stormy, but it quickly disappeared, and he shook his head.

"Astrid! Come get control of Stormfly! She's gotten into the chicken coop again and is trying to eat the hens!"

Astrid turned around. "Coming, mother!" She turned to Hiccup. "I gotta go--do you have any dragon-nip? I ran out the last time Stormfly did this." Hiccup smirked and handed Astrid a bundle of the herb. "Thanks!," Astrid called over her shoulder as she ran towards her house. "Stormfly! Get away from the chickens! You know you're not supposed to hunt the LIVE ones!" Hiccup grinned and laughed, shaking his head. He headed home, for it was time for supper. When Hiccup sat down at the table, Stoick was sitting there with an ice-block to his head.

"Another headache?," Hiccup guessed.

Stoick nodded. "Gothi is convinced that a huge storm is gonna come and wipe us out," he chuckled.

Hiccup scratched his head. "Well," he said slowly. "It's entirely possible."

Stoick shrugged. "Maybe. But I doubt it." Suddenly, Toothless bounded down the stairs and started whimpering and wriggling uncontrollably.

"What is it, bud?," Hiccup said. Toothless looked out the window, and Hiccup got up to look as well. "Toothless, there's absolutely nothing out there," Hiccup said, trying to convince himself of that. Inside, he was really thinking Toothless had sensed a storm, and that one really was coming. He shook the thought off, though, and finished his dinner. He headed off to bed, but didn't sleep. He kept tossing and turning and worrying. Finally, Hiccup couldn't take it anymore, and climbed out the skylight and sat on the roof, staring up at the ominously clear sky. The stars blinked overhead, and the Milky Way stretched across the black canvas of night like a dragon's tail. Hiccup laid back and put his hands behind his head. Then he heard thumping on the roof, and within a couple seconds, Astrid was laying next to him. "Couldn't sleep?," Hiccup said, still looking up at the sky. Astrid nodded. "Me neither," Hiccup sighed. "Just, something about that message on the door, and the fact that the weather is so eerily calm, has me wondering. What if....." He let the sentence trail off, and the end of it lingered in the air above their heads.

".....a storm DOES come? And what if it's like what Gothi described? What do we do then?"

Hiccup remained silent and tense. The storm had him worried...about a certain someone's well-being. Astrid sensed his thoughts and reached over, slipping her hand into his.

"Hiccup, don't worry," she said. "Even if it does come, as long as I stay with you, I'll be fine."

Hiccup smiled half-heartedly. "That's the thing, though," he said. "I'll have to be chief one day, and these are the kinds of things I'll have to worry about. If the world was perfect, I'd be able to keep everyone safe all the time. But, it's not, and, despite what it looks like, I can't protect you all the time. You're not gonna be safe all the time, no matter what I do to make it that way. That's what bothers me most."

Astrid smiled tiredly and squeezed Hiccup's hand a little tighter. "It's okay," she said. "All I need is to be with you, and that's when I'm safe, no matter what's happening around us." Hiccup grinned, and his eyelids felt suddenly heavy. He and Astrid drifted off, asleep on the roof.

Ch. 4

The Thunderdrums burst out of the ocean, scurrying away from the swirling vortex of death that sliced through their sea. Whimpering, flocks of dragons beat their wings desperately, trying to escape the windy monster. An unfortunate island was in the way, and it got maliciously destroyed and ripped apart violently as the waterspout engulfed it. Jagged forks of lightning pierced the air, sizzling and cracking. Snow flurried and clustered together, creating rock-hard hail stones the size of Gronckle eggs. The waves rolled and churned and roared furiously, crashing into one another and creating chaos in their wake. The waterspout raced onward, gaining momentum, size, and force the farther it went. As it advanced, the tiny isle of Berk came into view, and nothing was going to stop this storm now. Berk was doomed.

                                                                              *

Hiccup perched on the roof. The snow fell gently onto his auburn hair, but this was a mock softness. Hiccup's green eyes blazed as he stared out into the ocean. Something was coming; he could sense it. Something big, something that Berk would not be able to handle. Hiccup jumped as Astrid joined him. "Hiccup," she said. "What is it?"

Hiccup continued gazing into the calm, gray sea sullenly. "Something's coming," he said bluntly. "I just know it. Something big, a huge storm, that no one is safe from. I don't mean to be negative, but I have a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach." Astrid didn't reply. She just gazed out to the ocean, a look of deep concern on her face.

"What if...," she said after a while. "What if you're right? You usually are when you have gut feelings like this......so.......what if a storm IS coming?"

Hiccup sighed. "I really hope not," he said with a look of contempt. "But, I feel that something horrible is gonna happen." Astrid put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder.

"Why don't you come down and get something to eat? You've been sitting here since midnight, staring sullenly into space." Hiccup kept sitting there for a few moments, then slowly crawled down the roof with Astrid, eyeing the horizon wearily. He walked into the house and grabbed a bowl of porridge off the table, spooning it into his mouth distractedly. He finished it in a few minutes, and was about to leave the house when a rumbling sound started from the east, gradually increasing in volume. Astrid grabbed Hiccup's arm.

"Hiccup, look!," she squeaked, pointing out the window. Hiccup rushed to it and stuck his head out, eyes widening. "You were right; a storm IS coming!," Astrid  said, tears welling up in her eyes. A gigantic waterspout was racing towards Berk, and was about a mile away now.

Stoick ran down the stairs. "Get to the Great Hall!," he bellowed, ushering Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless and Skullcrusher out the door. They ran as fast as they could, joined by the rest of the tribe. However, nothing is faster than a waterspout half a mile wide that's rushing toward you, skimming the waves as if it were flying. The storm hit, engulfing the island in a blanket of water and debris. Hiccup ducked as a piece of wood flew overhead, and the waterspout started to cover the island.

Then, everything went black.

Ch. 5

Hiccup woke up. The storm was over. The island was still in one piece, amazingly. Snow covered almost everything, and nearly every building was demolished. Hiccup sat up, and then realized that he couldn't stand. A large plank from someone's house was on top of him, and he threw it off. He stood up and looked around. Where was Toothless?

"Toothless?! TOOTHLESS!," he shouted into the silence. Hiccup started running, looking for his dragon. He leaped over fallen trees and old house foundations. Finally, he came upon a black shape that was underneath a tree. "Toothless!" Hiccup ran to the tree and reached under it, trying to rub Toothless's head. The black dragon blinked a couple times before waking up, and when he came to, he started licking Hiccup's hand. Hiccup grinned. "Good boy," he said. "Now hang on, bud. I'll get you out of there." He shoved as hard as he could against the tree, and it rolled off Toothless. Toothless stood up and immediately started sniffing around for the other dragons. Suddenly, his head flew up and his ears flattened against his neck. His pupils sit, and Hiccup could tell something wasn't right. Toothless glanced at Hiccup, and that's when a feeling of dread crept up inside Hiccup.

Astrid.....

Hiccup started running, Toothless bounding after him. Hiccup looked all over, trying to find Astrid. He flung debris to the side as he dug through the rubble. Toothless sniffed around, and gave Hiccup a grim look when he caught Astrid's scent. Hiccup nodded, and Toothless lead him in the correct direction.

Finally, they found her.

She was on the ground, still and seemingly lifeless. Hiccup ran over to her and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He closed his eyes. Oh, Thor, he thought. Please... He looked down at Astrid's pale face, and his eyes started to water. Please, Thor, Odin, Freya....please, just help..... The snow started to drift down softly, settling on the ground mournfully. Hiccup and Toothless sat there for what seemed like an eternity. Toothless moaned quietly deep in his throat. Hiccup closed his eyes again and pleaded one more time. "Please.....," he whispered. Then, Astrid gasped in a huge, stiff breath and coughed. Her eyelids fluttered and she brought her hands to her head, groaning. "Astrid!," Hiccup exclaimed joyfully. Astrid opened her eyes a crack.

"What? Hiccup?," she mumbled groggily. "What happened?"

Hiccup frowned. "Well, Berk just got demolished by a huge storm, but I have absolutely no idea what happened to you."

Astrid tried to sit up, but flung her hands to her head again and settled back down into Hiccup's arms. "I have a horrible headache," she muttered. "And I feel really...tired..."

Just then, Stoick showed up. "Hiccup! Astrid! You two are okay!," he said. Hiccup looked up at his father, a look of extreme worry on his face.

"I am," he said. "But I don't know about Astrid." Stoick kneeled down and got a closer look. Astrid was struggling to stay awake and kept mumbling something about a headache.

Stoick frowned grimly. "Give her to me, he said. "You go find Gobber and help the rest of the villagers."

"But--"

"Son, this is part of becoming chief. Besides, I'll take care of her. Go help the others," Stoick said, reassurance in his eyes. Hiccup nodded and handed Astrid to his father gently, then stood up. Giving his father and Astrid one last glance, he hopped on Toothless and flew off in search of Gobber. The old blacksmith was perched atop a rock pinnacle, blown up there by the storm. Gobber grinned sheepishly and hopped on Toothless when Hiccup gestured for him to do so. Then Hiccup flew him down and together, the threesome searched through the rubble for any villagers. Toothless pulled out Snotlout, who aided in the search. Fishlegs looked around with Meatlug, and Stormfly sniffed around for any survivors. Hookfang kept the found warm. The twins moved aside any debris, and their dragon did away with it. After a few hours, all villagers were accounted for. Most were either unscathed or with minor injuries.

All, that is, except for one.

The whole time Hiccup was helping the villagers, his mind was somewhere else. Astrid was hurt badly, that much he could tell. Was she going to be okay? He didn't know; he'd always worried about the one day where something would happen to Astrid that he couldn't protect her from, and he wouldn't know if she was going to be okay or not. Hiccup sat down on a log and stared out at the ocean. He sighed, depressed. Gobber joined him, sensing something wasn't right. "Hiccup," he said. Hiccup stared ahead blankly and wrung his hands. "C'mon, lad," Gobber persisted. "What's troublin' ya?" Hiccup drew in a deep, shaky breath and tried to think of something to say. After a few moments, he still hadn't really thought of anything.

".......Astrid........," he started. He slouched forward and buried his face in his hands, suddenly frustrated. "I don't know, okay?! She's hurt bad, and I don't even know how much longer she has!"

Gobber looked at the ground silently. "Where is she?," he asked. Hiccup bit his lip, feeling a lump in his throat. He didn't really want to talk, for fear he'd lose it and break.

"She," he said, his voice wavering. "She's with my dad. He said he'd watch her while I helped the villagers." Gobber stood up. "Let's see how she is," he said. Hiccup got to his feet and followed eagerly, yet sadly. They flew to where Hiccup last saw his father and Astrid. Stoick was still sitting with her, but had a look of deep concern on his face. Hiccup saw it before he landed and vaulted off Toothless's back while still flying. He landed on his feet and ran to his father. Stoick looked down at Astrid. She was white and unconscious again.

"I tried to keep her awake, son," Stoick said, handing Astrid to Hiccup gently. "But she said she hurt too bad and was really tired, and she fell alseep." Hiccup was silent as he looked down a Astrid, cradling her softly.

Then, he looked up at his father slowly. "Is there anything we can do?," he asked quietly. Stoick looked to Gobber for help. Gobber examined Astrid. He looked into Hiccup's eyes worriedly.

"Maybe."

Hiccup said nothing and looked back at Astrid. "There better be something," he said. Then, Astrid's eyelids fluttered and she looked up at Hiccup deleriously.

"Hiccup?," she mumbled. "W-where am I?"

Hiccup tried to grin, but it didn't turn out too well. "You're still on Berk," he whispered. Astrid blinked and tried to sit up, suceeding this time. She held onto Hiccup weakly.

"Am I gonna be okay?," she asked. Hiccup sighed and looked at the ground, biting his lip. Astrid realized that this probably wasn't the best question to ask, and remained silent, dread creeping up inside her injured body. Gobber looked at the two, then stood up.

"Let's see if the shop is still standing," he said. "If it is, take her in and I'll see what I can do." Hiccup nodded and sat there with Astrid while Stoick and Gobber walked off. It was quiet for a bit.

"Hiccup," Astrid finally said. "Why'd the storm have to come? It seems that only bad things ever happen around here." Hiccup sighed and stared out at the ocean.

"I don't know, Astrid. I really don't, but I wish I did. I just hope that you're gonna be okay." Astrid leaned up against Hiccup and cried silently. Hiccup could feel her fragile shoulders shaking slightly, and he looked back at her. "Astrid," he said. "It'll be fine, don't worry..." A small, rare tear slid down Astrid's pale, freckled cheek.

"What if you're wrong this time?," she whispered shakily.

Hiccup closed his eyes and held Astrid tighter. "Have I ever been wrong?," he said quietly. "When it comes to you?" Astrid grinned weakly and sniffled.

"No. But, it always ends up real close to being wrong." Hiccup looked at the ground sadly.

"I know," he whispered. "That's what I don't like. You know what I said the other night? It's true; somehow, you always end up nearly getting killed, and, no matter how hard I try, I can't do a Thor-forsaken thing about it." Astrid pressed up closer to Hiccup, suddenly feeling really tired.

Then, Stoick returned. "The shop's intact," he said. "Give me Astrid; I'll take her." Hiccup nodded slowly and gently passed Astrid to his father. He then stood up, getting ready to go home. Astrid gave Hiccup a weak, tired smile over Stoick's shoulder, and Hiccup returned the gesture. He walked home with Toothless, feeling somewhat depressed. Somehow, their house had survived, and Hiccup drug himself up the steps slowly before sitting down at his desk. The papers were strewn all over the room and the bed had somehow lodged itself in the ceiling, but Hiccup didn't care at this point. He dug around and found his pencil, and pulled out a sketchbook. He touched the pencil to a blank page, then stopped. He wanted to draw, but, what exactly, was hard to figure out. Toothless nudged him and looked out the window towards the smithy. Hiccup understood and started to sketch. He sat there for an hour or two, just drawing. About half the pages in the sketchbook were now full. Hiccup closed the sketchbook and climbed onto the roof to think. The clouds had cleared, and Hiccup could see the sun setting.

It was quiet on the roof, peaceful and serene. Hiccup would often sit up here; sometimes Astrid would join him. This was a special place for them, where only they could be. They'd get up early and sit up here to watch the sun rise, or they'd comfort each other late at night when something was bothering them. Hiccup would also come up here alone to think, or to sketch. He'd come up here to get out of the house when he and Stoick weren't coexisting properly.

Now, though, was different. Hiccup was all alone; Stoick wasn't at odds with him, and Astrid wasn't here to comfort him. Hiccup sat there, fingering his pencil, thinking deeply. Astrid meant more to him than any Viking he wasn't related to, and he took it hard when something happened to her. Two years ago, the riders were performing a training excercise. Snotlout disobeyed Hiccup's orders and shot fire at a catapult, setting it off. The boulder crashed into Stormfly and knocked Astrid off her back, sending her falling three hundred feet into the forest below. Her head hit a tree branch, and it knocked her out. Hiccup dived after her on Toothless, catching her in his arms right as she was about to hit the ground. Hiccup had taken it so hard that he suspended Snotlout from the Academy right then and there.

Now Hiccup sat, worrying about Astrid. Was it really only three years they had been together? Was it really three years ago that he had taken Astrid on that flight above Berk, that he had saved Astrid from being eaten by the Red Death, that he and Astrid had their first kiss after she punched him in the arm "For scaring me" ? It seemed way longer than that. To Hiccup, it felt like half his life. When it felt like that, you could probably guess how Hiccup felt right now. He sighed and looked down at the smithy, twirling his pencil in his fingers. A light went on in the small building, and Hiccup realized it was twilight. Stoick emerged slowly from the shop, casting a glance through the door. The he headed toward the house. Hiccup eagerly hopped into his room and ran downstairs, awaiting news of Astrid's condition. Stoick pushed the door open and started when he saw his son standing there.

"How is she?," Hiccup said. "Will she be okay?"

Stoick sat down on an upturned chair. "Gobber says she has a minor concussion and a few broken ribs."

"But, is she gonna be okay?," Hiccup persisted.

"I don't know, son," Stoick sighed. "Gobber says she has a fifty-fifty chance of......" He stopped when he noticed Hiccup's expression.

"So," Hiccup said, starting to turn white. "You mean she could....." Stoick nodded and stared at the ground. Hiccup ran up the stairs to his room and collapsed onto his bed, a knot forming in his stomach. He felt like his heart was being ripped in half, slowly and painfully, as if a dragon was pulling it apart just to make Hiccup miserable. Toothless moaned quietly and nudged Hiccup.

"It'll be okay, master." Hiccup drew in a deep breath and shut his eyes, trying not to think of the worst case scenario. He fell into a worried, tense, feverish sleep that had him jolting awake after horrible nightmares that are to remain unsaid. He stared out the skylight after waking up in a cold sweat, and there was a full moon. He closed his eyes and prayed to Thor that Astrid would be okay before falling asleep again.

Ch. 6

Hiccup had been visiting the smithy every day now for the past two weeks. While the rest of the village was rebuilding, Hiccup was in the shop with Astrid and Gobber. Astrid would always wake up a few minutes after Hiccup arrived, and pass out again right after he left. Gobber took note of this, and, after this happened a tenth time, he decided to talk to Hiccup about it.

Hiccup was in his room drawing when Gobber came up the steps.

"Hiccup," he said, pulling up a chair. "I noticed that Astrid is only conscious and alert when you're there. I've never had anything like that happen the whole time I've been doctor, and, that really means something. I think you're what's healing her, Hiccup. You miss a day, she gets worse. You come at least once a day, she seems to get tremendously better. I've hardly had to give her anything the whole time she's been in the shop." Hiccup smiled halfheartedly at the floor, then sighed. Gobber looked at him and gave a small grin. "And I know why." Hiccup looked up at Gobber. He folded his hands and glanced at his sketchbook.

"So do I," he said.

Gobber nodded. "No amount of medicine will heal her, Hiccup," he said. "Only you can do that. Astrid loves you, and just seeing you makes her happy. Today, she woke a little before you got there, and smiled as you walked in. That's something. You know that, don't you?" Hiccup gave a small, tired laugh that barely shook his shoulders.

"Yeah, I do, Gobber," he said. "For me, seeing her every day is all I need. I just hope it's the same for her."

Gobber smiled. "It is, Hiccup. It is." With that, Gobber left, and Hiccup smiled. He got into bed and stared out the skylight at the stars, knowing that Astrid was probably doing the same.

Astrid sat in the bed and looked out the window at the sky. She smiled as a shooting star whisked across the navy blue backdrop. She closed her eyes and leaned back onto her pillow.

Hiccup's words echoed through her mind. "Have I ever been wrong? When it comes to you?..........Yes, I did. Snotlout almost killed you, so, if I can't trust him in training, how can I trust him in battle?.........Well, you know, Astrid, training dragons isn't the ONLY thing I think about......." Astrid grinned as those words floated through her mind.

Then, she jumped as Gobber walked in. "Ah, you're awake, huh?," he said, smiling.

Astrid chuckled and shook her head in chastisement. "You really like to sneak up on people, don't you?" Gobber laughed.

"No," he said. "I just assumed you were still sleeping off your injuries." Astrid grinned, then cocked her head, thinking deeply.

"That's the thing, though," she said after a moment. "I'm not tired, and, I don't really hurt anymore."

"That's because Hiccup has been seeing you every day. He's your medicine, not all the chemical concoctions I've been giving you." Astrid smiled and looked at the ground.

"Do you think I'm well enough to surprise him tomorrow?," she said. Gobber shrugged.

"Probably," he grinned. "You sure seem like it. If I were you, I'd do something that will really surprise him, something that will leave him without words to say." Astrid leaned back on the pillow, knowing exactly what she was going to do. "I'll leave you to plot your evil master scheme," Gobber yawned. "I'm heading off to bed." Astrid laughed and rolled onto her side. She fell asleep instantly, a smile on her face.

Ch. 7

Hiccup took one step into the smithy, and within a second he was outside, on his back in the snow, with Astrid sitting on top of him, a snowball in her hand. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.

Hiccup frowned, confused. "Good morning.....?," he said slowly. Astrid laughed and threw the snowball in his face. Hiccup flung the snow off his face and looked up at Astrid, smiling. "Feeling better?," he said.

"Uh, yeah," Astrid said. "Of course I am, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting on you right now. Which reminds me..." She shifted her position and grabbed the neck of Hiccup's shirt and pulled him upward. "You deserve a thank-you for the medicine." Hiccup raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What medi--" Before he could finish, Astrid locked lips with him passionately and stopped him. When she pulled away, Hiccup blinked dizzily. He tried to find something to say, but couldn't think of anything.

Astrid grinned. "Gobber told me to surprise you and leave you speechless," she said. "So, I just did." Hiccup smiled, then grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at Astrid. She yelped and Hiccup laughed.

"Now I surprised you!" Astrid smirked and stood up, and Hiccup ran off to escape Astrid's snowball assault. Astrid ran after him and pelted him with snowballs. Hiccup smiled and just kept running, this story ending with a snowball fight as it had begun.